Meijer grocery stores have introduced a new food-rating system which it says will help customers choose healthy foods.

NuVal, a nutritional scoring system, gives foods a one-number score between 1 and 100. A higher number indicates higher nutritional value, according to Meijer, which has begun assigning NuVal scores to products in all its stores.

NuVal is one of several supposedly simpler food-scoring systems being introduced by food manufacturers and grocers, according to Food Technology magazine.

Supervalu, the nation's No. 3 grocer, which owns Albertsons, Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco and other chains, has developed Nutrition IQ. This program relies on color-coded shelf tags. Some foods will have shelf signs with a red tab that says "low saturated fat," while others may have orange tags for high-fiber foods, green tabs for low sodium, and blue labels for foods with high calcium.

NuVal scores

Consumers visiting a Meijer store will see thousands of items with a NuVal blue hexagon, which contains the NuVal score. Here are scores of specific groceries at Meijer, according to a May 3 report from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

Web sites such as www.nutritiondata.com offer more detail rather than less, with charts showing caloric ratio and data about foods' estimated glycemic load.

In the United States, food labeling requirements are spelled out in great detail by the Food and Drug Administration.
Over the years, a detailed system has evolved that specifies everything in the familiar nutrition facts box, plus common food allergens and guidelines for when descriptors such as "high in calcium" may be used.

The NuVal system was designed by Dr. David Katz, a nationally recognized authority on nutrition, weight control and the prevention of chronic disease. He established an independent team of nutrition and medical experts from leading universities and health organizations to spearhead the project. This team, funded by Griffin Hospital, a nonprofit community hospital and teaching affiliate of the Yale University School of Medicine, worked for two years to develop the ONQI algorithm that powers the NuVal System.

The NuVal System considers more than 30 different nutrients and nutrition factors -- and their effect on health outcomes -- to determine a food's score. According to www.nuval.com, other grocery chains using the scoring system include HyVee and Price Chopper.

On the twitter microblogging site, tekemp, of Royal Oak, Mich., called the NuVal scoring at Meijer "brilliant."

Elizabeth Lee, a MIchigan mother also twittering about NuVal at Meijer, described it as "cool, but I waste so much time looking at values."

Meijer says its goal is to post NuVal scores for 100 percent of the 50,000-plus products in the average grocery store -- including private label products. And because the NuVal System applies the same criteria to all foods and beverages, consumers are able to compare the nutritional value of products both within and across food categories, Meijer says.

YOUR TURN

• Do you rely on food packaging or store labels to help you make healthy choices at the grocery store?

• If so, what kind of information is most valuable to you when you shop?